Sir William Waller

Sir William Waller was a leading Parliamentarian general during the English Civil War. He won numerous victories, at one point earning the nickname "William the Conqueror". He also suffered a few notable defeats, including that at Roundway Down. He was remarkable for his friendship with Sir Ralph Hopton, his old comrade and frequent Royalist opponent, which continued though the hostilities.

Sir William is a Bicorne miniature, as are his colleagues. I love the Bicorne historical commanders, I'll probably end up collecting the whole lot of them. I think Sir William was painted by Shaun McTague. I couldn't find a suitable cornet, so I painted my own (rather badly!). Sir William will, of course, be leading the Parliamentarians in my Roundway Down game at Partizan in May.

Sir Marmaduke Langdale

Here's Sir Marmaduke Langdale, commander of the élite Royalist Northern Horse in the English Civil War. He was a tough commander and needed be, as the Northern Horse were well aware of their own value and could be very undisciplined.

He commands my own For King and Parliament Northern Horse. I have three regiments of these, a mighty 54 men, but I realise that I've never taken a proper photo of them! I'll put that right, soon. But you can just make out some of them on the right in this link. They are hard men; they took out the Ironsides (left) in this battle.

If you are at a loose end, tonight at 8PM UK time I’ll be joining the Pile of Shame Broadcast on Youtube. 

I’ll  be talking about what I’ve been writing and modelling recently, and what I have planned. You can join us at the below link, hope to see you there!

 

https://youtube.com/channel/UCS7347mT9uSFHblr9f6xGcA

Sir Jacob Astley

Sir Jacob Astley, Sergeant-Major-General of the Royalist foot, is one of my favourite characters of the Civil War. 

He neatly book-ending the war with two fabulous quotations. At Edgehill, the first major battle of the Civil War, there was his famous battle prayer:

"O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, do not thou forget me." He followed this promptly with the order "March on, boys!"

At the last pitched battle of the first Civil War, Stow-on-the-Wold, he surrendered to the Parliamentarians with the words:

"Well, boys, you have done your work, now you may go and play - if you don't fall out among yourselves."

What a man!

The model is a lovely Bicorne. I think I bought him on eBay; his drummer and fifer were painted by Chris Meacham. The base is one of my circular command bases with a scalloped edge.

Prince Rupert and Boye

Here is Prince Rupert and Boye the war poodle at Marston Moor. I love the animated Warlord poodle model. Prince Rupert was painted by Shaun Watson.

Old Noll

Here's Oliver Cromwell, not yet Lord Protector, but already a Lieutenant General of Horse. Cromwell is looking out for the arrival of his Ironsides, who are presently in the flocking queue. Pics are clickable.

I think David Imrie painted him, it's certainly a lovely job! I painted the cornet and fount the other rider in my bits box. The base is from my circular command base pack. The minis are mostly (all?) Bicornes. The simple white flag is from a new pack from GMB, who have kindly also done flags for the Ironside troops, to follow.

I must apologise for the desultory nature of posts on this blog. I have at least a dozen regiments of foot and horse that are finished and awaiting photography, and several more on the basing tray, along with other officers. More pics to follow!

Colonel Hampden

John Hampden was a Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire- one of the five who fled when the King raided the House and trued to capture them. A prominent and respected Parliamentarian politician, he also served in the field as a colonel of the famous greencoated regiment of foot which he raised from his Buckinghamshire estates. He guarded the baggage at Edgehill, commanded a brigade at Turnham Green and participated in the siege of Reading.

In 1643, whilst away from his regiment, he volunteered as a common trooper to join a force of cavalry that were engaged in the pursuit of a raiding Royalist force led by Prince Rupert. At Chalgrove Field, on 17th June he was severely wounded in the shouder, possibly as a result of his own pistol exploding. He died of his wounds six days later, and was sorely missed as a moderate politician who nonetheless managed to remain on good terms with the more militant Parliamentarians.

I have based him as a colonel for King and Parliament where he will lead a brigade of three or four regiments. The Bicorne mini was painted by David Imrie, I believe, and I've placed them on one of my new circular batbases. Now I need to get his regiment based up...

...and I'm back.

All through the wintertime, I've hid myself away painting and basing for the Salute ECW game, whilst finishing the forthcoming "For King and Parliament!" English Civil War rules, with Andrew Brentnall and others including (but far from limited to) Millsy and Ian Notter.

Here are some lovely Bicorne minis (clickable photo) painted by the highly talented Redzed. Charles I (holding map) and Sir Edward Walker are discussing dispositions for a forthcoming battle, whilst the young Prince of Wales looks on. In attendance are various flunkeys and some dismounted gentleman pensioners. The standard isn't intended to be the Royal Standard; Sir Edmund Verney will carry a larger version of that, on a separate base. The minis (and the colour schemes) are based on a lovely illustration in Philip Haythornthwaite's excellent "The English Civil War, 1642-1651: An Illustrated Military History." There is every chance that they will make the cover of the rules....

The base is one of the new command Batbases with my famous wobbly edge.

Colonel John Talbot's Regiment

Here's my latest regiment, part-based; Colonel John Talbot's Regiment, from Ireland, which served in Hopton's army. All the splendid Bicorne minis were painted by Chris Meacham- I just did the flags (which are Flags of War and very nice, indeed). I particularly like this regiment's yellow coats. Pictures are clickable.

I have complete four regiments on bases now, with another two partially based and roughly ten more-or-less painted but unbased foot regiments.

Andrew Brentnall and I are putting on a demonstration game (above) of For King and Parliament at Colours on Saturday week. The game will feature Andrew's impressive 10-12mm collection, but I'll have some of the 28mm units with me and we will be demonstrating the coming "For King and Parliament" rules. Do please come by and say hello!

King's Lifeguard of Foot command

I spent a couple of sessions basing up the command stand for the King's Lifeguard of Foot. The minis are Bicornes superbly painted by Chris Meacham. I did the flags- this time by GMB - lovely designs! Starved of banners during my long sojourn in the ancient period, I couldn't resist gorging by using all four. Reminds me of the palio in Siena!

New Model command

This is the command stand for John Pickering's regiment of the New Model army. These are from Ian at Flags of War; very nice they are, too! I distressed them.

The command minis are mostly Bicorne.

The above snap is a bit "washed out"- they are actually pretty colourful. I'll take some better photos when  the bases are grouted.

Put out more flags!

I'm very pleased with these- the minis were superbly painted by Chris Meacham, I did the standards. Four standards is too many, but, painting ancients, I have been starved of big flags and thought I'd indulge myself!